Bethesda Builders: The Construction Contractors' Blog

When the housing economy is down and you pause before jumping up the ladder to the next size house, why don’t you consider adding an addition?  Not only will you be able to wisely invest into a more profitable future sale of your home but you’ll also be able to cut back on moving costs, packing headaches, and the hassle of trying to get the kids adjusted to yet another neighborhood or school district.

Weathering through the housing slump by adding on to your existing home provides the best current solution for your growing family & personal or business needs. Just imagine … with a two level addition, you could add a personal office for yourself (distanced from the constant wailing of the kids), an extra bedroom or two, an expanded kitchen - and don’t forget about the extra bathroom that should keep the teenage clawing to a minimum.

In fact, go all out with the personal office and pull your boss’s arm or leg or both and see if you can work 3 days out of 5 from home instead of just Friday. With the price of filling up that gas guzzler escalating faster than popcorn pops, you might just have the chance. You could even invite the boss over for a quick lunch sometime to show him the office set up you have (or will have, once you get that new addition in place).  Surely he’ll fall for it.  It’s the way of the green, right?

So now that you’re persuaded that holding off on adding yet another home to the overflowing housing market is the way to go and building a residential addition is more profitable (both in terms of keeping the psychologist bills down and investing that wad of cash your husband would be otherwise wasting on that boat), grab the phone and contact some top notch home addition builders in the Germantown, Maryland area.

The Hartman builders will do most any kind of residential construction in and around Bethesda, Gaithersburg and Potomac, MD. They prefer design build projects where, if you don’t already have an architect with your plans predone, they’ll refer you to a trustworthy architect or two who will walk you through the design process.  If a kitchen is in your plans, they’ll refer you to a kitchen/cabinet showroom where you can design the kitchen of your wildest dreams.  Once that is complete, the Hartman crew will take off.  As contractors, they can then manage every remaining aspect of the process.  And folks who’ve used them in the past know they stand squarely behind their name & their work.  Call D.R. Hartman Construction, Inc. today or fill out their online contact form to begin the free initial quote process.

Your home is an asset. Putting money into repairs and updates is almost always a good investment. Wood floors are a highly desirable feature in most any home. If you’re currently looking to change the floors in your home to wood, or think it might even be a possibility - read on!

The first choice you’ll need to make is whether or not you’re going to do the work yourself. Hiring a contractor to install your wood flooring will be much more expensive, but the potential for costly mistakes is greatly reduced (depending upon your ability that is). Now if you’re fairly handy though, installing wood floors may just be a great project for you to complete yourself.

Regardless of who is going to do the actual installation of the wood flooring, you’ll need to decide what type of wood floors you’d like (and can afford) to choose. The 3 main choices would be wood laminate, engineered hard wood or solid wood floors.

While solid wood floors are expensive, they also are the only option that can be refinished. If they get scratched, or scuffed, you can make them new again with a sander and some sealer. Not so for laminates or engineered wood flooring. Engineered wood flooring is somewhat like ply wood. It is made up of multiple layers of hard woods put together, with a thin layer of the “good wood” on top. Engineered wood flooring is usually the mid-priced choice. Laminate wood flooring is essentially a piece of plastic flooring with a picture of wood on it, and then a protective coating on top of this. Laminate wood flooring is often your cheapest alternative, but has the shortest life span as well.

If you are delving into this adventure yourself, your first move will be to take off your baseboards and door trim, as well as to pull up your current flooring. You want to get down to your sub floor. From here, you’ll start to install your new wood floors. As an aside, before you install your flooring, but after removing the trim, is a great time to paint your walls. A new color might go really well with those new floors! If you do it now, you’ll have to go around less trim and a spill on your floor isn’t an issue at this stage.

As far as the actual installation, solid wood floors can be either glued or nailed down. With laminates and engineered flooring, it will depend on the brand you buy and the instructions that come with it what materials you’ll use to install the floor. Regardless of how you install it, you will want to make sure you are on target with your measurements. This will help conserve materials as well as prevent mistakes in your flooring pattern.

Once the flooring is installed throughout the entire room, you’ll need to re-attach your baseboards and door trim. This will finish off your project. You now have brand new wood floors!

For professional wood flooring installation in the Bethesda, Maryland region, give us a shout.  Our professional builders will gladly meet with you, provide you with a competitive quote and give you a wood floor you can be proud of.  Call the Hartman builders at 301.926.9000 today or submit our online contact form.  We serve those in Fairfax, Virginia all the way through the Washington, D.C. region and around Gaithersburg/Bethesda.